The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 51, December 19, 2004, Article 7
WEISMULLER OLYMPIC MEDAL RETURNED TO RANSACKED MUSEUM
On December 15, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel published a
story revealing that the International Swimming Hall of
Fame's extensive Olympic collection had been looted of
over $500,000 worth of rare medals:
"A man with a secret past who landed a temporary job as a
janitor at the International Swimming Hall of Fame wasted
little time before stealing more than 100 Olympic medals
and other irreplaceable memorabilia, police said Wednesday.
Paul Nichols Christow, 48, had unfettered access to the
museum's impressive Olympic collection when no one else
was around. He stole nearly $500,000 worth of gold, silver
and bronze, police said. Among the loot was Hollywood star
Johnny Weismuller's 1924 medals, a medal from the first
modern Olympic games and an ancient Greek medal.
The Hall of Fame's collection was so large that he operated
undetected for months.
Early this month, a museum worker noticed some medals
missing from a display case. About the same time, an
Olympic memorabilia collector contacted the Hall of Fame
to say he had just purchased a group of medals on the
Internet. Police traced the theft to Christow, set up a
sting, caught him on tape trying to sell more Olympic
goods, and arrested him last week.
Investigators recovered about half of what was stolen
and are hopeful they will find the rest."
"He posed as a paralegal looking to liquidate an anonymous
family's estate. Marty Bookston, of Double Eagle Rare Coins
in Hollywood, had never seen a real Olympic medal before,
but he gave the man $250 for two medals and posted them on
eBay for an opening bid of $9.99 apiece."
Those knowledgeable about the value of such medals can
only gasp at the opening bid - later just one of a group of
50 medals was sold to a California collector for $10,000.
The article goes on to describe how alert eBay users notified
the museum about medals it didn't know were missing. Police
enlisted the help of the Hollywood, FL coin dealer and a
North Carolina collector to snare the thief in a sting
operation.
"Christow was charged with two counts of dealing in stolen
property and two counts of grand theft over $100,000.
"I grew up with Johnny Weismuller on TV," said Gerry
Machurick, the burglary detective who worked the case,
"so to be a part of preserving history is pretty
incredible."
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